The Mercury Report

High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is nowadays a cheap replacement for sugar. More and more products replace safe and natural sugar to chemical refined corn syrup. HFCS might contain traces of mercury, mercury is a neurotoxin and could cause Alzheimer in the long run.

We live in a truly global food system. Our system typically is geared more toward producing lots of cheap calories, and then selling those calories to consumers, than it is toward meeting other goals like reducing fossil fuel use or producing food that is healthy.

In stark relief, new science shows just how blind to healthfulness some processed food makers have been. Just published online in the journal, Environmental Health (http://www.ehjournal.net), is a science commentary reporting that mercury was found in 9 of 20 samples of commercial high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), a common sweetener of foods and beverages. The HFCS came from three different manufacturers.

Mercury is a potent brain toxin that we know accumulates in fish and seafood, although diet is not the only route by which we are exposed. When babies are exposed to elevated mercury in the womb, their brains may develop abnormally, impairing learning abilities and reducing IQ. For these youngest children, the science increasingly suggests there may be no “safe” level of exposure to mercury.

Read the full report by the Institute of Agriculture and Trade Policy on Mercury and High Fructose Syrup: